Nonus Aelius Comitinus

Nonus Aelius Comitinus (25 BC-) was a Roman Army soldier who served in Legio XIX at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. Serving as a courier, he rode for four days before reaching Rome and informing Emperor Augustus of the fiasco, upon which Augustus sent Tiberius and Germanicus to lead a punitive expedition into Germany.

Biography
Aelius Comitinus was born in Rome, Roman Republic in 25 BC, and he enlisted in the Roman Army and served in Legio XIX, fighting at the disastrous Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. After the defeat, he rode for four days to reach Rome and inform Emperor Augustus of the disaster. When Augustus asked him what legion he was with, Aelius said he "was" with the XIX; when Augustus asked if he had been transferred, he said, "No, Caesar. The 19th legion does not exist anymore. Nor does the 17th, nor the 18th. The whole army of Quinctilius Varus was massacred in the Teutoburg Forest. Nothing stands between the German tribes and our provinces in Gaul." He then informed him that there was no army in across-the-Rhine Germany, that troops, orderlies, auxiliaries, and general staff were massacred to a man, that many of the survivors were hunted down and killed, that Varus had committed suicide after his defeat, and that three legions were destroyed. Aelius explained that the legions had been sent on a punitive expedition after his tax collector and staff were murdered, and that the loyal Germans had led the Romans into the forest before vanishing. Varus ignored intelligence warnings of activities in the villages, and the tribes had time to gather as the Romans felled trees during their advance (without advance guards or flank guards). Then, it started to rain, and the archers couldn't keep their bows dry and their shields became soaked and too heavy to carry; at the same time, the Roman carts got stuck in the mud. When the Germans attacked, the Romans were in a hopeless position. Only one officer kept his head - Cassius Chaerea - who formed up about 120 troops and we cut their way out and back to the fort. When Germanicus arrived and asked what happened to the Roman prisoners, Aelius said that the Germans had put them in wicker cages and burned them alive. Augustus, furious, decided to send Germanicus and Tiberius to retaliate against the Germans.